Kitchener citizens concerned about lack of green space around new high rises

The Victoria Park Neighbourhood Development Committee feels unheard about a trio of high rises that are being built at Park and Victoria Streets in Kitchener.

The scheduled buildings, to be located in an area home to old, established neighbourhoods, don’t fall in line with the Committee’s priorities: affordability, green space, keeping climate change in mind and having citizens engaged in the development process.

“The type of development we were seeing was not good for the neighbourhood, not good for the city, and not necessarily good for the people who were going to be living there, either,” said Committee member Peggy Nickels. “Our purpose is to work for development that is livable and sustainable in the downtown area.”

One of the biggest concerns of the Neighbourhood Development Committee is that the high rises at Park and Victoria won’t have green spaces.

“Trees make the city more walkable, they help to mitigate the impact of climate change and heat, they help to clean the air, they help to hold soil, they help to soak up water,” she said. “More and more buildings go up, more and more green spaces get paved over, even little front yards as houses get torn down.”

Nickels and the Committee have shared their concerns in front of councils and at information meetings for high rises in the downtown area, as well as with planners and developers. Many of the Committee members participated in the initial urban planning guidelines that are for guiding the city’s development.

Nickels said they’re frustrated to see the “huge deviation” from the plans.

“We thought that those documents were what we could count on to see in terms of the development of the city in the future and we don’t feel that’s happening,” said Nickels.

She added, “We speak, but we’re not too sure what impact it’s having.”